Day 14: Our first full day in Boston
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A day to get our bearings, including
"Open Day" at the Symphony Hall
and a free visit to the astonishing Isabella Stewart
Gardner Museum.
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We were under no pressure
or time constraints today. We had chosen to extend our stay
in Boston by an extra two nights beyond the one night which
was included in the tour package. We looked at the published
programme for today and did join the group for breakfast,
but decided against going on the scenic tour, knowing that
we would be doing everything on it over the next couple
of days, at our own pace. We therefore said our goodbyes
to the people we had met, thanked the cruise director and
her excellent team for all of their efforts and wished them
all a good day and a good flight home. |
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It was a cloudy and
rather cool day, with a slight drizzle, but we were not
put off. With nothing in particular in mind, we set off
from the hotel to see what we could find. |
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The Reflecting Pool at
the Christian Science Plaza. |
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The Splash Fountain
at the Christian Science Plaza. The Youth Center for Music
and the church are at the far side of the reflecting pool.
Running along the length of the pool (on the right) is the
Northeastern University College of Professional Studies. |
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We weren't paying too
much attention to our actual location, but we did enjoy
seeing some of the unusual buildings and residential streets
in the heart of the city. |
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Halloween is clearly
a big thing here, as it has become back at home in recent
years. |
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| The Exeter
Street Theatre is a Richardsonian Romanesque building
at the corner of Exeter and Newbury Streets, in the Back Bay
section of Boston. |
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...to discover that
today was their annual Open Day, when they encourage people
to meet some members of the orchestra plus their support
team and to go inside the building. |
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There was even some
music to encourage us to go inside, not that we needed much
encouragement! |
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After that unexpected
treat, we started thinking seriously about what we might
like to do next. Geoff had done a little research and decided
that there was a museum that we might both enjoy visiting,
so we set off in that direction. |
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No, it wasn't the Museum
of Fine Arts that he had in mind, although it would
undoubtedly be something for another day, besides which,
there was a very long queue to go inside. It wound right
around the block! |
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Instead, we were aiming
for the Isabella
Stewart Gardner Museum nearby, the exterior of which looks
slightly unusual, but not especially so. (The interior, well,
reaad on...) |
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The Isabella Stewart
Gardner Museum is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts,
which houses significant examples of European, Asian, and
American art. Its collection includes paintings, sculpture,
tapestries, and decorative arts. It was founded by Isabella
Stewart Gardner, whose Will called for her art collection
to be permanently exhibited "for the education and
enjoyment of the public forever." - Wikipedia |
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Had we looked at the
museum's website beforehand, we would not have attempted
a visit today, because it was officially fully booked for
the day. It was their annual "Indigenous Peoples' Day"
and although tickets were free, they had all been reserved
in advance. In all innocence, we walked in and went to the
ticket office, preparing to pay for a ticket and were told
that we were very lucky because they had a very limited
number of tickets available for entry in an hour's time
and that they too were free! |
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A real stroke of luck
and so, as we had an hour to kill, we decided to have a
slightly early lunch at the museum's informal and pleasing
looking restaurant. |
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Geoff chose the quiche
and Bruce had the burrata. The portions, once again, were
enormous and we ended up leaving a lot on the plate. What
we did eat, however, was delicious. |
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Soon it was time to enter
the main section of the museum.
We had few expectations
beforehand and we were therefore quite startled (and delighted)
by the views which greeted us!
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We lingered for some
time in the courtyard. Suddenly we were back in Italy! Later,
we made our way through all of the galleries on each floor
and looked back down into the courtyard several times. |
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The museum's
website is really good and was very helpful, in restrospect,
to properly identify what we had seen. Some of the exhibits
which caught our eye are below.
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Titian Room.
Christ Carrying the Cross, about 1505-1510.
Giovanni Bellini. |
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Gothic Room.
Isabella Stewart Gardner, 1888.
John Singer Sargent (Florence, 1856 - 1925, London). |
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Early Italian Room.
Hercules, about 1470.
Piero della Francesca (Sansepolcro, about 1415 - 1492, Sansepolcro).
Tempera on plaster. |
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Early Italian Room.
Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, 1319–1347.
Ambrogio Lorenzetti (Italian, 1285–about 1348). Tempera
and gold on panel. |
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Early Italian room.
Virgin Enthroned with Saints and Angels, 1355–1360.
Bartolomeo Bulgarini (active Siena, 1337–1378).
Tempera and gold on panel. |
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Raphael Room.
The Virgin and Child in the Clouds, about 1470.
Creator was "An Italian, Northern Italy".
Tempera and oil on panel |
Raphael Room.
Tommaso Inghirami, about 1510.
Raphael (Urbino, 1483 - 1520, Rome).
Oil on panel |
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Raphael Room.
Guitar (Chitarra Battente), 1720-1729.
Jacopo Mosca Cavelli (active Perugia, 1720s).
Wood inlaid with bone |
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Short Gallery.
Isabella Stewart Gardner in Venice, 1894.
Anders Zorn (Mora, 1860 - 1920, Mora).
Oil on canvas |
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Dutch Room.
Self-Portrait, Age 23, 1629.
Rembrandt van Rijn (Leyden, 1606 - 1669, Amsterdam).
Oil on oak panel. |
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Blue Room.
Study of John Feeney, 1919.
Denman Waldo Ross (Cincinnati, Ohio, 1853 - 1935, London).
Oil on grey canvas. |
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Blue Room.
At the Window (about 1917).
Louis Kronberg (Boston, 1872 - 1965, Palm Beach).
Oil on canvas |
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Blue Room.
A Lady with a Rose (before 1892).
Albert Besnard (Paris, 1849 - 1934, Paris).
Pastel on grey paper. |
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Yellow Room.
In the Dressing Room, 1910.
Louis Kronberg (Boston, 1872 - 1965, Palm Beach).
Pastel on canvas. |
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Yellow Room.
- Viola d’Amore Case: Viola d’Amore, 1770s.
Tomaso Eberle (Italian, 1727–1792). Wood.
- Miniature Mandolin. Italian, 1700–50. Wood.
- Chasuble (liturgical vestment). Italian, about 1725–50.
Brocaded silk. |
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Yellow Room.
Harmony in Blue and Silver: Trouville, 1865.
James McNeill Whistler (Lowell, Massachusetts, 1834 - 1903,
London, England).
Oil on canvas. |
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Yellow Room.
Lady in Yellow, 1888.
Thomas Wilmer Dewing (Boston, 1851 - 1938, New York).
Oil on panel. |
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Yellow Room.
Charles Martin Loeffler, 1903.
John Singer Sargent (Florence, 1856 - 1925, London).
Oil on canvas. |
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Mexican Talavera tiles
lining the Spanish Cloister. |
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Spanish Cloister.
El Jaleo, 1882.
John Singer Sargent (Florence, 1856 - 1925, London).
Oil on canvas. |
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One of the most powerful
(temporary) exhibitions in the museum was Mary
Ellen Mark's portrayal of "A Seattle Family 1983
- 2014". |
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These two images of
Erin "Tiny" Blackwell, one of the characters from
her documentary films "Streetwise" (1984) and
"Tiny" (2015), were especially fascinating and
emotive. |
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With our hearts and
minds full after the wonderful experience of visiting the
museum, what better way to return to our hotel than walking
(mostly) through a beautiful park, rather than along a busy
street. Thank you Google Maps! |
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After an hour or two
resting back at the hotel, we set off again on foot to do
some more exploring and to find somewhere nice for dinner. |
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We were aiming for the
Charles
River, which looked easy to get to on our map, but we
had to somehow cross a major dual carriageway, which we
eventually managed to do, but it detracted somewhat from
the nice easy walk we had in mind. Nevertheless, once we
got to this tranquil lagoon, we could easily access the
Charles
River Esplanade and go right down to the banks of the
river itself. |
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By now, we were starting
to feel hungry, so we headed back into the city centre. |
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This restaurant had
appeared on a list of recommended restaurants given to us
by our cruise director, so that was it, decision made! |
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We enjoyed the meal
very much, but were a little confused by Boston's restaurant
etiquette, which seemed a little different to what we are
used to. After we had finished our main course and declined
to have a dessert, Geoff asked if he could have coffee and
a liqueur. The coffee arrived but the liqueur didn't and
before we knew it, and without asking for it, the bill (check!)
was dumped on the table. We know that tipping is a big thing
in America, but it seemed a little odd that our credit card
was then taken away and processed before we had even indicated
how much of a tip we wanted to leave. The "suggested"
tip on the check was one of 12, 15 or 20 percent and customers
are expected to tick the relevant box on it, after getting
their card back. Nobody seemed to want to come and collect
the check after that, but at the same time it was made fairly
clear that it was time for us to leave, which we did. It
was only two days later that could see that the correctly
indicated tip had been applied to our credit card. We were
slightly put off by the experience and decided that we wouldn't
go back to the restaurant. (We later discovered that these
slightly odd procedures are standard for Boston restaurants
and so we were able to relax again!) |
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Our first full day in
Boston had been a great success and we were so pleased that
we had added an extra two nights to our itinerary. There
would be plenty more to see in the remaining time. |
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